


zero chemistry

by readingnotes



Series: ellick fic [3]
Category: NCIS
Genre: 18x05, ?? maybe?? I'll try??, Angst, Episode: s18e05, F/M, Fluff, Head of the Snake, Hurt/Comfort, I wrote the first one instead of studying for finals oops, if you want prompts pls visit me on tumblr :), the ELLICK HUG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28149828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readingnotes/pseuds/readingnotes
Summary: Nick and Ellie: falling in love, getting together, starting their family, and everything in between. Collection of Ellick drabbles.ii: the obligatory 18x05 tag.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Series: ellick fic [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622641
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	1. glass jar

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello! I'm going to start a collection of ellick drabbles, most of which will be less than 2k. Send in prompts on Tumblr ([lenawin4](https://lenawin4.tumblr.com/)) or in the comments; I'll try to get to them or come up with my own prompts.
> 
> I totally wrote this instead of studying for finals but guess who's done today! hahaha have a very merry Christmas/holidays!
> 
> also most of these will probably be super unbeta-ed but uh hope y'all enjoy XD
> 
> 1: glass jar  
> Words: ~500  
> Genre: Angst

The glass jar sits on the third rack of his shelf, next to a picture of Lucia and him. 

Most days, he ignores it, lets it stay there and just be. Other days, he holds it in his hands, watching his apartment lights reflect against the glass. He watches the particles of dirt and kelp and whatever microorganisms live in swamps float around and slowly settle at the bottom.

It’s the strangest thing: learning to love someone. When you’re in school, once you’ve finished learning everything you need to, you’re supposed to look back and understand everything that you learned before. 

The glass jar was in his hands, lake water dripping from his fingers, and Nick didn’t understand it at all. Just stared and wondered what it meant. What was it that Kasie said? Put something in it that he didn’t want to lose?

And now —

His phone is silent. No phone call from Gibbs, no text from McGee. 

The glass jar is still full. He’s never spilled it once, just let the swamp water stay there: undisturbed, safe, hidden. Let the dirt swirl and swirl. Just watches as it falls, again and again.

He wants to smash it on the side of the wall, wants to see the water splash onto old paint and peeling wallpaper. He wants to hold shattered glass, if it means she’ll be okay.

The thing is, Nick knows better. The glass jar won’t make it all better. He’s not stupid. He’s not naive.

He'd rather break someone’s legs, shoot someone’s kneecaps. He’d rather catch the man who put his partner in the hospital than sit at home staring at a goddamn glass jar.

But Gibbs kicked him out of the waiting room, and they still haven’t pinned down the gang leader that put the hit out on Ellie.

Ellie. Ellie in the hospital, Ellie in the ambulance, Ellie on the steps of his building, bloodstains on his hands and on his jeans.

He sets the jar back on the shelf a little too harshly.

They don’t know who shot Ellie or how she managed to get to his apartment. They don’t know how to charge the gang leader hiding behind a politician’s face; they don’t know if Ellie’s going to survive or not.

But Nick knows: the gang leader’s address, how many rounds are in his SIG, and the weight of Ellie’s stuttering breaths against his chest. He’ll get him to talk. He’ll make him confess. He’ll bear the consequences later.

For now, the jar sits, capped tightly, pressure building. Sooner or later, it’ll burst; glass will fly across the room; the illusion gone; the truth revealed.

And that’s okay. He’ll let it spill over when he’s done his job, when Ellie is awake, when that man can’t hurt her anymore. The glass will crack, and Nick will shatter, and he will hold the shattered glass in his hands. Then after, if she’ll accept his scarred palms and shaking fingers, he’ll hold her hands in his.


	2. ellie, in the hangar. (18x05)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie, in the hangar in 18x05.
> 
> Words: ~300  
> Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oDHDJWJDSKFKRNCNCDJ
> 
> Well. That happened.

Within minutes, the handcuffs are on unconscious Goon #2. He sports a nasty bruise on his cheek and a rather painful dislocated knee. She also kneed him where it hurts, so that’s that.

Ellie’s angry that she was caught in the first place. Outnumbered, caught off-guard, worried about Nick. Three elements that took her down easily. (She knows there was nothing she could do to fix that. Especially the third point.) Odette would be disappointed. 

The humidity is ripe inside the hangar. Ellie stumbles to the door, wrenches it open, relishes the fresh air, and slides to the ground.

The explosion wakes her with a sudden rumble, the ground shaking with fury, and it reminds her of Afghanistan. Ellie blinks. Groans. Remembers where and when and what and why, then —

"Bishop! _Bishop!_ No, I have to — "

Nick.

" _ELLIE!_ "

Nick will think —

She runs, smoke in the air and another thunderous explosion and ambulance sirens ringing, and _what if it’s for Nick?_

Ellie rounds the corner. The sight of it burns: Gibbs holding Nick back, Nick dragging himself toward the fire. 

_"Nick!"_

At the sight of her, without hesitation, he runs.

There’s something lodged in her throat, her ribs flare, and the right side of her face is wet and numb, but she reaches him. It’s a desperate collision, and the tension coiled tightly inside her unravels. Her knees nearly buckle, and if she holds onto him any longer, she’ll break, but Nick is warm and alive and here. He has her in his arms, and he whispers to himself, _She wasn’t on the plane, she wasn’t on the plane._

Ellie pulls away. Nick is ragged, breaths erratic, hands curling away when Gibbs reaches for her. The look in his eyes is primal, and she shivers at the sudden weight of his glare.

Even when Gibbs asks if she’s alright, Ellie doesn’t take her eyes off her partner.

Neither does Nick.


	3. 18x05: in between the airport and the bullpen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> post-18x05  
> Words: ~400  
> Genres: Angst, Romance, Canon-Divergence  
> in between the airport and the bullpen.
> 
> damn y'all. maybe ellick will actually be canon next week. (adds more clown makeup to face)

Her eyes are bloodshot and her bruises are ugly and mottled. There’s ash in his hair. He can still feel the heat of the fire. Every reassuring touch she gives him burns; every word of comfort he has falls silent on the tip of his tongue. All he can do is let her keep her eyes closed. Although everything inside Nick still rages with freezing fear, he forces his driving to be calm so the ride is peaceful enough to lull Ellie to sleep.

His mind wanders — what would have happened if Fornell let him die, if it was him in the van and in her ear, if he’d run faster, if they never helped Fornell in the first place? His hands grip the steering wheel, but he wants to hold her hand and squeeze.

They’re five minutes away from the Navy Yard when Bishop lets out a small grunt. Her eyes are wide open, staring at him unflinchingly, and Nick almost runs a red light.

“Hey there, partner,” he says.  _ Forgive me, it’s my fault, it should’ve been me, _ he doesn’t say.

His eyes are on the road, just turning the bend, when his fingers are pried off the wheel by a stronger grip, a smaller hand, a sigh of relief. “Nick.”

He squeezes back.

Nick slides the car through the gate, parks it in his spot next to hers, and hugs her again. He feels the tremble in her shoulders and stiffens when she presses her head into his neck. The soft tangles of hair, some strands matted with blood, tickle his ear. He closes his eyes at the scrape of her nose against bare skin.

“I’m sorry,” he says, because for seconds, she’d left him flailing on the tarmac. “I — I don’t — ”

“It’s not your fault.” Her voice is tight. “I’m okay.”

Nick pulls away and looks her in the eye. His hands crawl up from her shoulders to the cut in her cheek, the bruise on her lip. “I don’t want to lose you,” Nick says, convicted and frightened and raw. “I don’t. I know that now.”

She holds him close and he pulls her closer. Their noses touch, and there’s nothing else he can do.

Nick kisses her with the fervence of a man drowning; she kisses him back with the desperation of a woman scorned.

“I’m okay,” Ellie whispers as he presses his lips to her neck, her cheek, her forehead. “You didn’t lose me. You won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for the love you're showing to these drabbles!


End file.
